London employers ditch jargon-filled CVs

New qualification: the College of North West London will teach the Techbac®, a new curriculum and qualification developed with industry

London employers are the least patient in the country with candidates who apply for jobs with qualifications they do not understand, new research shows.

Almost half of bosses in the capital throw away CVs if they contain jargon or unfamiliar examinations, according to a survey by vocational education body City & Guilds. The results prompted the Plain English Campaign to launch a “jargon buster” for students seeking jobs. City & Guilds today launched a vocational curriculum to cut through the confusion and help candidates stand out from the crowd.

Two London colleges — Harrow College and the College of North West London — will teach the Techbac®, a new curriculum and qualification developed with industry. It is aimed at 14- to 19-year-olds who must complete a technical qualification and an accredited project qualification, as well as doing work experience.

From today students can take a Techbac® in engineering, construction, land, early years and digital/IT and more subjects will be added.

Kirstie Donnelly, UK managing director of City & Guilds, said: “High levels of youth unemployment and increasing skills gaps across many sectors show that the education young people are receiving is not helping them to successfully compete and find employment, and our research shows employers are not getting what they need.”

A survey of 1,000 employers revealed that 57 per cent found acronyms on CVs confusing. Almost two thirds said they had to look them up on the internet, while the same percentage believed candidates use jargon to cover up a lack of skills or qualifications.

And while 42 per cent of employers in the rest of the country would throw away a CV if the did not understand the qualifications, the figure leapt to 49 per cent in London. A worrying 95 per cent of employers could not identify the most advanced qualification from a list including BTEC and NVQ, while half did not know that BA stands for Bachelor of Arts.

Chrissie Maher OBE, director of the Plain English Campaign, said: “Employers won’t have a clue about a candidate’s ability to do the job if they don’t know what a qualification means. All qualifications need to be written in full and, if they’re relatively new, with an explanation about how they compare with more traditional qualifications.”